How would you rate the level of accountability to every opportunity your dealership’s sales and F&I departments encounter each month? At the end of the month are you sure that you have taken advantage of every possible opportunity, with none slipping through the cracks? If you answered yes, the data may cause you to reconsider. 

As it turns out, according to Invoca automotive marketing statistics, nearly a quarter, or 23.5% of dealer leads, miss 24-hour follow-up, and 13.3% of leads disappear before customer relationship-management system entry. Seventy-six percent of vehicle shoppers run a search before buying, and 61% call the dealership after the search. The problem is that only one in three of those calls results in an appointment, and of those that do only about 50% show up. 

Missed opportunities for sales mean missed opportunities for F&I. Sometimes we need to look into the past to see a path for the future. What was a smart business practice then, many times is a smart business practice now. Daily save-a-deal meetings are one of those activities. Back in the old days when interest rates were higher, inventories were growing, and buyers and gross profit were harder to come by, this activity made a lot of sense. If those market conditions sound a little familiar, maybe daily save-a-deal meetings make sense now. I must admit the responses I get when I ask managers how often they hold a save-a-deal meeting are a little surprising to me. Many times, after I explain what it is, the most common answers are, “About once a week or so,” and, “We do it all the time during the day.” If this activity isn’t a daily non-negotiable in your dealership, I would be confident in suggesting that deals are slipping through the cracks and that if you really drilled down on it, you may be shocked at how many.

For the uninitiated, save-a-deal is a daily discipline to ensure that every incoming lead or sales opportunity is accounted for. It starts with the sales manager gathering information on every incoming phone call, walk-in, business development center lead, internet lead, and appointment from the previous day, and determining where the lead landed and its outcome. Then the sales manager has a face-to-face with each salesperson, each day to inspect what he or she expected from the previous day’s sales activities and to plan for the current day. 

Once completed, the sales manager meets with the F&I manager to determine the location and status of every deal sold or working. A report should be given to the general sales manager or general manager recapping all the activity information of the previous day and the expectations for the current day. 

Then all managers, sales F&I, preowned and BDC meet briefly to recap all of the previous day’s activities, whether phone, internet, BDC, walk-ins, appointments, appraisals and outgoing sales calls, and the result of each. Together the managers determine a plan to save any deals that didn’t happen the day before and drive accountability on action items to develop a plan for the current day.

Successful dealers do this every day. It’s no coincidence that they rarely have any contract-in-transit issues. These dealerships are focused on appointments and creating business through referrals. Communication between sales and F&I is exceptionally good. Inventory turns. The salespeople are well-trained, and customer satisfaction index is high. And you may have guessed it, they are very profitable. 

Save-a-deal is about keeping the main thing the main thing, which is selling vehicles; ensuring customers are satisfied; getting every deal you can; and making money. If you aren’t currently holding a save-a-deal meeting every day and believe a save-a-deal meeting makes sense but don’t know where to begin, reach out to me, and I will send you a step-by-step guide to the process. 

I will share with you that if your GSM, GM or dealer doesn’t believe in this process 100% and aren’t willing to consistently hold everyone in the process accountable to it every day without exception, it won’t work. It takes discipline and commitment to do this every day.

Even though save-a-deal as I describe it may be a bit old-school, it still works today.

John Tabar serves as executive director of training for Brown & Brown.